


October Prompts

by cypherd



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Child Death, F/F, F/M, Gen, Gore, M/M, Multi, Original Characters - Freeform, Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-04
Updated: 2019-10-04
Packaged: 2020-11-23 06:36:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,965
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20887721
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cypherd/pseuds/cypherd
Summary: This is a collection of drabbles based off a list of October related prompts that Sheewolf85 created.





	1. Prompt 1: Night

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SheeWolf85](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SheeWolf85/gifts).

> This story contains several suggestions of implied child death and missing children as well as some vague ghost story tropes.

Every year Detectives Kate McCree and Henry Fuji dressed up as Agents Mulder and Scully. Even if the kids didn’t get the reference (and well, it was actually Scully who was the skeptic) their first order of business in the month of October would be to offer a presentation on that year’s batch of potential dangers to kids out trick or treating.

“…and finally, we do encourage all adults handing out candies to stick with store-bought treats. Save the homemade stuff for parties and private functions. Det–Officer Fuji and myself will be driving through the streets on opposite routes from between six and eight thirty pm.”

“We would also like to thank this year’s batch of neighbourhood watch parent and teacher volunteers.” Henry added, thumbing the switch on the power point to post a list of names and addresses. He allowed a moment for the parents in the audience to grab their phones to take a shot of the information before moving to the last slide, a cartoonish pumpkin carved with a bright kid-friendly grinning jack-o-lantern face and a simple ‘Thank you’.

A polite smattering of applause drifted over the audience, an unusually subdued reaction for potential trick-or-treaters.

“Thank you officers.” Linda Harris, the head of the PTA moved back up to the front of the room and began speaking to the next item on the agenda, something about a budget for new desks while Henry collected his laptop and followed his partner out the door.

The duo found themselves in Kate’s car, the doors clicking shut in unison on either side.

“So time for the usual argument?”

“Right on schedule.”

“We have us AND a whole team of Neighbourhood Watchers? Shouldn’t we look into the Ebott thing? And BEFORE you say anything, I’m not suggesting Alien abductions, but don’t you think that kids going up a 'haunted’ mountain on halloween and getting hurt on a dare is just a bit of a better story than serial killer and copy cats came through Ebott?”

“Yes. Because no one goes up that stupid mountain. It’s a folk legend. It’s barred off. There is a damn good reason we’re detectives in this place. Because of all the cold cases.”

“Cold cases we have been getting NOWHERE with for the past 4 years. Come on, shouldn’t we be looking at a different angle? Just once, I wish you’d let me poke around the stupid mountain.”

“Why? It’s barred off and no parent in their right mind would…”

“Oh I see. You’re secretly superstitious. But I wouldn’t worry. You’re too boring to be taken aboard a spaceship.”

The duo gave eachother watery smiles, a sign that the argument was over for now. They’d been partners for years and while they took their job very seriously, even Kate had to admit there was little to no evidence that anyone had gone up the mountain, but to be fair no serial killer of any description had ever been spotted near the small town.

Yet six cold cases, all Ebott children. No leads, no trails, two highly respectable detectives hoping that their presence would - if not solve the issue, then at least stop the problem.

When Halloween night rolled around, children flooded into the streets accompanied by their parents or elder siblings. Shrill cries of ‘Trick or Treat’ started to ring out, accompanied by the inherent gushing and exclamations of delight or offers for trades for favourite candies. 

Ebott wasn’t a wealthy town but most kids were able to afford costumes or make their own. It wasn’t a particularly cold night either and most were happy to flaunt their costumes without being bundled into a winter jacket and hat. 

That was why the kid in the green and yellow striped jumper and khaki trousers stuck out like a sore thumb. It was probably one of the older kids too ‘cool’ for tricks and treats.

But the kid wasn’t going to houses or waiting for a sibling or friend and when they finally turned down an alley, Henry followed. 

“Kate?”

Kate jumped a little as her partner’s voice came down the walkie-talkie line, grateful that she was going at a snail’s pace in her child-watch progress. 

“What’s going on?”

“I um. I think you might be right?”

“What?”

“I spotted a kid going down an alleyway. I’m following them now and it looks like they’re headed for the mountain trail.”

“On my way!”

Kate carefully pulled a 3-point turn and headed back the way she’d come.

Henry’s car was just making the turn onto the mountain path and she sped up to hurry after him, honking.

The car ahead crawled to a halt and she left her own to run, hurrying over 

“Where are they?”

Henry grabbed a torch off the opposite seat and flashed it into the brush.

“There!” 

“I…don’t see anything.”

“Right there!” Henry waved the light in a circle. “…what in the hell?” 

Kate followed the light more closely this time and jumped back at a flash of eerie red.

Henry dropped the light, dove for it and snatched it back up to point back into the bush. Whatever it was…was no longer there.

“Jeez, now who is being paranoid and superstitious. You clearly spooked an animal.”

“Yeah. But no! There was a kid!”

“Okay.” Kate was still feeling a little spooked but edged closer, taking the beam out of Henry’s hands. The light cut through the darkness the night provided out here, far away from the town lights and houses of the trick or treat candy providers.

“No one could possibly have come through here, Henry.”

They spent a good twenty minutes combing the area, but not a single child turned up.

The next day was mercifully equally peaceful. No kids had been reported missing.

“Henry, I’m sorry. It’s probably my fault for going on so much about it. You were just frustrated. I feel that way too. But look, I went back this morning. Only thing I saw was our own foot prints and the tyre tracks.” 

“I suppose you’re right.”

“I will remind you of this next year.” 

“Great, Thanks I hate it.”

“I’ll get us some coffee. Maybe some discount candy? Breakfast of champions?”

“Sure. That sounds like a plan. See if they have those sour cherry things.”

“Absolutely.”

Henry turned back to his desk and opened the case file logging the event such as it was; his own exhaustion and imagination. 

As he was carrying it back to the cabinet, a slip of paper slithered out and sank to the floor. 

“Ugh, damnit.” He bent to grab it from where it had fallen, when he took a glance at what it actually was. “The hell?”

It was the kid. Or he really was losing it - this photograph had to be at least over 80 years old, given the sepia tone of it. But that knobbly jumper with it’s single stripe was familiar. He’d taken some art classes…is that how green and yellow would look in this tone? 

The photo had a single word written on the back “Chara.” 

“Is that a …name or something?”

He dropped the photograph again when a flash of gleaming red caught his eye.

The led on his monitor blnked back at him. 

He jammed the photograph back in the case file and into the file cabinet. 

Maybe next he could go into the bathroom and say Candyman three times…It was equally likely as ghost children summoned by a photograph and their name.


	2. Prompt 2: Fangs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When you look into the mirror, you'd better hope it's still you.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please note that this has some mildly gory descriptions of a child being murdered by burning to death and evisceration. And Asgore. Guess why.

They said that LOVE changed a monster. That it altered their appearance, made them unrecognizable.

It was with this thought in mind that King Asgore stood in front of the mirror, examining his reflection in the glass, checking against an old photograph holding so the frame’s other occupants were obscured by one large paw.

It was grounding, a good sign in a way to not want to look at his ex wife and son for fear of heartbreak.

He was still…quite a popular King if the news about his subjects and their reaction was to be believed. Of course he was no older than he had been, a little bit gone to seed, but no less powerful either in strength or magic.

Horns the same length, beard and fur managed and groomed despite his present solitude as a good ruler should. . Horns no more curly than normal…it was true he spent a lot more time in Pajama pants these days than his Kingly armour but they weren’t even in bad shape. No slovenly stains or tears to mend.

His eyes were clear and for all intents and purposes things seemed to be in order. He looked like a …well, maybe a tired old King than a father, he supposed., setting the photograph down and swiftly turning away from t it and the mirror alike.

Of course all of these things masked the sins that crawled down his back to settle in his SOUL, but that was a matter for him and his Judge and no one else. 

***

When the third human soul arrived, the call had come from Gerson.. He’d stationed the old turtle in a shop in Waterfall

He had another group of trusted patrollers out in Snowdin and another in Hotland of course, ready to report, not engage with any humans that might come through.

He would not allow his subjects to become corrupted. Not now, not ever. Asgore hurried along the mushroom lantern path, willing his mind blank for the task ahead so his steps would not falter or slow toward his destination.

A child. 

“I…” he started forward, when the tulle of their tutu-skirt and slippers caught the bioluminesce in the cavern. The kindly words died in his throat to be replaced by a hot bubble of rage. If it was a child, it was a child covered in dust.

And in that moment he saw the dust and dead body of his own children and the rage he felt boiled over the crawling on his back with roiling white hot lava.

The child-killer-human’s eyes had barely time to go large before he was set upon them, firey magic turning them into a glowing match stick. He could smell the grease and oil of skin melting and frying and charring, and the tear of his own trident through what was left, leaving only a pile of black ash, mingling with the white dust of his people and illuminated by the ultramarine of the brand new soul…

***

Asgore sat up in bed with a yowl that had he been a very different sort of monster would have been glad there was no one to hear the tremulous, high pitch of it.

He pawed frantically at his blankets for a moment, scrabbling to find some purchase on the silk sheets. He heard and ignored the sound of a tear as he finally flung them away, tripping gracelessly over himself as he narrowly avoided face planting over the bed’s baseboard.

He switched on the bedroom light, wincing as his eyes adjusted and slowly, slowly peering upwards back into the mirror.

His own frightened expression stared back at him, chest heaving, pajamas soaked with sweat as though he’d recently decided to wear them in the shower.

But despite everything…

He searched his reflection desperately, even pushing his trousers to his knees to inspect the state of his tail.

…it was still him. 

It was a bad dream. That was all.

“It was a bad dream.” he muttered to himself, trying out the words aloud. “Just a bad…–ow!” he had bit his tongue….maybe.

It felt way too sharp; he could taste magic staining the inside of his mouth.

He leaned closer to the mirror and opened his jaws and a stab of horror hit him like a knife to the chest. Where before there had been a simple set of rather slightly pointed incisors now protruded two razor sharp canines. These were not slightly pointed. These were vicious fangs, elongated to deadly snakelike points.

The sharp pain still stinging the inside of his mouth was telling him this was not a dream.

***

No one could spot any major changes in their king, this was a fact. He was as good and kind, as just as positive as he’d ever been, working to build the spirits of his citizens in their exile. 

However for those astute few, and for more down the road, their King no longer laughed aloud, even at the funniest jokes. While his smile had not reached his eyes for a long time, he now never, ever showed his teeth.


	3. Prompt 3: Rain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Undyne and Papyrus chill out and play video games. What could go wrong?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Based almost exclusively on something that happened to one of my best mates, myself and his wife. To this very day I'm entirely convinced Callum and I inadvertently stumbled upon the Silent Hill graveyard whilst buying alcohol and pizza in the suburbs of Glasgow.
> 
> Contains video games, spooky graveyards, light UndynexAlphys and Papyrus. And if you happened to guess the video game they are playing is Phantasmagoria, then you'd be correct.

“A whole Surface worth of snacks to choose from and you still want oatmeal with little sugar eggs in it.”

Undyne’s complaint held no real weight and she slammed the boot of the trunk down. There was more than enough variety of snack foods for tastes (and several more people beyond two monsters’ besides), to complement her first real ‘best friends’ night with Papyrus since they’d settled on the surface.

“NYEH, I HAVE AGREED TO THE PIZZA YOU KNOW!”

“And I will RUE the day I get sick of pizza because of you, you nerd.”

Papyrus put the top of the car up with a glance at the sky, perhaps because it was going to rain, perhaps because he knew as well as she did that the very second he latched onto a favourite food, he would order it ad nauseum. It was a real debate on whether to take him to a new place that didn’t have one of his favourites; as if he happened to like it one was liable to be eating nothing but for the next few months.

At least his spaghetti was more than edible now.

True to his word, Papyrus navigated through the parking lot from the grocery to the pizza joint they’d placed an order into forty minutes prior and Undyne dashed inside to get the pies. She returned in fairly short order, holding the boxes on her lap. It appeared not too many other people wanted to go out in what was rapidly becoming a torrential downpour of an evening and the parking lot was all but deserted save for Papyrus’ convertible and those parked in employee spots.

The home that she had settled in with Alphys was closer to the the University than the flat Papyrus shared with Sans on the other side of town and Papyrus was enjoying his first visit; or would be had the rain not been driving so heavily.

It finally let up about fifteen minutes in, so Papyrus dimmed his head beams and let Undyne gush about anime for awhile while he chose to take the lull in the storm to observe the local scenery.

“Hey, spooky huh?”

“What is?”

“All that mist around the graveyard at the Church.”

“That’s spooky?”

“Hell yeah. Well, you know, humans find it spooky. Like zombies and stuff.”

“Some humans find Skeletons spooky.” Papyrus retorted, rather primly.

“Yeaaaah, maybe, but it’s different. Like…it’s atmosphere.”

Papyrus considered as they continued past. In the gloom of twilight with the imposing silhouette of the church as a backdrop, the roiling fog along the ground did not give the same ambience as the precursor to a Mettaton Show, that was for sure.

Undyne predictably broke the silence. “Oh hey! We should play spooky video games! It’s the perfect weather for it!”

“Spooky video games?” Papyrus echoed her.

“Yeah. Unless you’re chicken!” Undyne grinned viciously at her friend across the car seat. 

Papyrus predictably rose to the challenge spectacularly. “OF COURSE NOT!”

The rain had started up again and they booked it into the house. Pizza boxes and snacks were delivered to the kitchen; a brief tour of the house was given and soon the duo found themselves seated in Undyne’s living room, drinks, snacks and pizza to hand. 

Papyrus examined Alphys’ anime figurines with a begrudging amount of respect while Undyne pawed through her much less alphabetically organized video game collection, pulling out several titles well known for their blood, guts, gore and of course, jump scares.

The room had been outfitted with drawn blackout curtains but a low rumble of thunder suggested that the storm had now escalated.

Undyne thumbed the volume up on the television and sorted through the titles, picking out the most up-to-date; virtually guaranteed to have the most realistic graphics, then put it down.

“Oh no. This one.” 

The title was a compilation reprint from an old company to the point where it’s inital release had required more than nine CD’s to play through. However, in the interests of winning the unspoken challenge the game’s plot also revolved around puzzles; using items and information in the correct way in order to escape the demonic haunted house and solve the mystery.

Just as the protagonist’s posessed husband had caught hold of her and was about to lock her into a torture device, an immense clap of thunder rang out, the power went out and both Papyrus and Undyne let out a joint scream.

“I’M NOT SCARED!”

A split second later the lights flickered back on.

Alphys stood in the doorway, taking in the sight of her wife and her wife’s best friend, clutching eachother on the couch; Undyne in Papyrus’ lap with her arms around his neck and her knees tucked up to her chest, Papyrus with his face buried into her shoulder and clinging like his life depended on it.

Both Undyne and Papyrus were begrudgingly impressed as she very calmly held up her phone and snapped a photo. 

Papyrus broke the stunned silence with what was evidently meant to be a whisper. “Is this where I’m supposed to say ‘It’s not what it looks like’?”


End file.
